A Thorn in a Bouquet of Roses
by Captain Relevance
Summary: After a tragedy, Ginny Weasley's life is turned around. At the young age of twenty-two, she is shunned by her old friends and family and resorts to socializing with others. Will she be able to regain her old life? Will she be able to start anew? Or wi
1. Chapter One

Disclaimer: The plot is original and it is that of my creation. All other characters, settings, and whatnot are that of Jo Rowling and the Warner Bros.

**Chapter One**

_Harry put his arm around Ginny's shoulder as she leaned on him softly. The two sat on the swinging bench that was located outside of the Burrow. This wasn't anything new to them. Every night after supper, the two would sit outside and talk with each other. They had been dating since Harry's sixth year, and now that Ginny was twenty-one, they had begun to start thinking about their future together._

_"D'you think we should get married?" Harry asked her, suddenly, stroking her hair._

_As old as Ginny was, she still had the eyes of a child. With her creamy brown eyes staring up at Harry's she asked, "Why do you ask?"_

_He sighed. "I dunno. Ron and Hermione have been married for two years now. And we've been going out much longer than they have… I just feel like we're behind them."_

_"It's Hermione, Harry," Ginny laughed. "You'll always be behind her, no matter what you do."_

_He chuckled as well and kissed her lightly on the forehead. "You know I love you, Gin, right?"_

_"Of course I know that," she responded. "And I certainly hope that you know I love you, as well."_

_Harry chuckled again. "Listen to us, prattling on like we have a fluffy romance of some sort."_

_"Well… we do have a bit of a fluffy romance, now that I think about it."_

_"How so?"_

_"There's no Voldemort any longer and the Death Eaters are all kept away from you. We've got nothing to harm our relationship. And… there's the fact that we're both still virgins," she added, blushing._

_"Listen, Gin, can I ask you something?" Harry inquired._

_She nodded._

_Reaching into his pants pocket, Harry pulled out a small jewelry box. He opened it and showed Ginny a small ring with an emerald in the shape of a heart. "I want to get pre-engaged, Gin. I know neither of us are quite ready for marriage or anything like that. It's more of a promise ring. If you want to promise yourself to me, that is…" he trailed off._

_Ginny held the small ring in her tiny hand and looked at it closely. "Pre-engaged? Are you serious?"_

_"I said it, didn't I?"_

_She sighed. "Oh, Harry, of course I will!" Ginny exclaimed. Slipping the ring onto her finger, Harry kissed her on the lips. His arms slid around her waist as the two sat kissing for a few minutes._

_Ginny pulled back, after kissing a bit more. "Now then, Harry," she reprimanded, jokingly, "save that for the wedding night."_

Ginny sat on a cold stone bench outside of the reception hall. There was no need for her to be in there. They didn't even want her there. No one ever talked to her anymore and when they did, all they did was either reprimand or condescend her. Suddenly, the sound of heels clicking came from the reception hall.

"Ginny?" asked a voice. Hermione came walking quickly out of the reception hall. Both of the grown women wore long black dress robes. Hermione's stomach was full and round, seeing as how she was seven months pregnant. The older woman's face was sympathetic, but Ginny could tell that Hermione was annoyed with her all the same. "Why aren't you in there? We wanted you to say something, in his honor. We're going to do a toast to him."

"A toast?" Ginny scoffed. "Oh, that's rich. You're going to toast him when he didn't bloody do anything?"

"Gin, please," Hermione replied, sitting down next to her. "I know you're angry—"

"More like furious."

"—at him, but you could at least take the time to say good-bye. Ginny, I know how this is. If you don't say good-bye now, it's going to kill you emotionally. It won't right away of course, but I know all about this. People come into St. Mungo's to see me all the time about their horrible guilt pangs. These people have sometimes killed themselves, Ginny. Do you _want_ to die?"

"It'd certainly be better than living in the hell we're all experiencing," she retorted. "Please, Hermione, I don't need to be patronized by a pregnant woman. I'm quite fine just sitting here. Personally, I'm glad that Harry _bloody_ Potter is finally dead."

Another pounding of footsteps came and Ron appeared by Hermione's side. "Hermione, they want you in there for—Ginny! You're _here_?"

"Surprised, Ron?"

"Yeah," he sputtered, "I thought you were… wow. D'you want to come in, have a drink or anything? We're going to toast Harry in a few minutes. Maybe you'd like to say a few words in his honor? I mean, you knew him almost better than the rest of us. You really loved him, Ginny."

"And notice how loved is past-tense," Ginny pointed out. She pushed her long red curls out of her face. "I really don't feel like talking about him in front of loads of people. It's likely I'll say something quite regrettable and then you lot really will hate me."

Hermione sighed, annoyed, and turned around to walk away with Ron. She put her hand on her head suddenly and muttered, "Ohh… too fast…" Ron helped her back into the reception hall. Ginny continued to sit outside on the bench.

Suddenly, the doors to the building opened and two men walked in. One was tall and blonde and the other was tall and had dark brown hair. Both were smiling and laughing. At the sight of seeing Ginny sitting on her own, the blonde man approached her.

"Weasley?" he asked, surprised.

"Oh please," she scoffed, "who isn't a Weasley nowadays?"

Both men laughed. "It _is_ her. Ginny, was it?" the brown haired man inquired.

Ginny nodded. "Oh… " she sighed, when she realized who exactly it was that she was talking to. "I can't believe you two showed up here. What are you going to do, spit on his corpse?"

"Spit on it?" the blonde man laughed. "Oh, I was just going to foxtrot on it with Blaise. But now that you bring up the opportunity of spitting… I don't think it'd be a bad idea."

The young woman could barely stop herself from laughing at the two Slytherins. "So why are you really here?"

The blonde man shrugged. "We thought we owed him the respect, if you understand. We felt badly about the whole ordeal. I mean, the boy's still a ponce and we still hate him, but after all that he went through. Mainly, we came out of pity…"

"And to see if Granger's really pregnant!" Blaise added, grinning.

"That she is," Ginny replied. "Seven months pregnant."

"So Granger and Weasley—er—the stupid Weasley are reproducing?" the blonde man checked.

"Yes, Draco, we've already established that."

"That's disgusting," Draco responded.

"Malfoy?" asked a voice. Suddenly, Ron came stomping out of the reception hall. "I don't care about the fact that you helped us back then. I still hate you and you and your stupid Slytherin friends can just leave—now."

Blaise and Malfoy shrugged, and started to walk out of the front door. Suddenly, Ginny got up and followed them out of the door.

"Ginny!" Ron shouted. "No, you are not going with them. If you go with them, you can forget about staying with Mum for the week."

Ginny just stared at Ron and then ran off to join Blaise and Malfoy.


	2. Chapter Two

**Chapter Two**

_Harry and Ginny sat side by side at the dinner table at the Burrow. It had been a year since they had been pre-engaged. The two had yet to be actually engaged, but both were starting to take steps to being together. They had recently bought a nice house in the suburbs of London. Every Saturday night, they would go to the Burrow for dinner._

_The table was smaller than usual. Mrs. Weasley sat at the head of the table, grinning as she cut the chickens for everyone to eat. Bill, Charlie, Fred, and George were all working in their respective places and rarely ever came home anymore. Percy sat by her side, also smiling at the well-cooked chicken. Ron and Hermione sat together, as did Harry and Ginny. They all felt obligated to visit Mrs. Weasley, who was now typically alone in the Burrow except for very late at night, when the twins would come home to sleep. Mr. Weasley had been killed in the Final Battle and Molly Weasley had never quite been the same since._

"_How's the Ministry, Ron?" Percy asked, as they all began to eat their supper. "I suppose it's much different from when I left it."_

"_So much so," Ron answered. "I'm lucky I'm not Minister, I suppose. Head of Misuse of Muggle Artifacts is enough for me, thanks. Besides, it's where Dad always wanted me to be. I just didn't think that's where I wanted to be until I started. And of course, it keeps me close to Hermione."_

_Hermione smiled. "We go out for lunch a lot."_

_Ginny beamed. "I wish I could say the same about me and Harry. We spent every minute together, practically. Really, I didn't think they'd let us inherit The Three Broomsticks, but it's so cozy. I feel like I almost live there, if it wasn't for our home."_

"_Thank goodness we can Apparate," Harry added._

_She laughed along with him. "Oh, of course, because you never even learned to drive."_

"_Just because you did—"_

"_Means I'm responsible? Why, yes, it does," Ginny snapped._

"_What's this?" Ron joked. "Is the perfect couple having a bit of a spat over a bloody car?"_

_His little sister scowled at him. "I don't know, Harry, are we having an argument?"_

_Harry attempted to stifle a laugh._

"_What? Something about this is funny to you?"_

"_No," he replied, quickly, "it's just that… I love you so much…" Suddenly, Harry got out of his chair and got down on one knee. Ginny's heart practically stopped of excitement and sheer horror. "Ginny Weasley, will you marry me?"_

_She was speechless for a moment before a word came out of her mouth. Everyone else around her seemed to be squealing—perhaps even Ron. "Oh yes," she breathed, "yes, of course!"_

_She leapt onto Harry, which knocked him onto the kitchen floor. Seeing the obvious romance in front of her, Mrs. Weasley reprimanded jokingly, "Now Ginny, get off the boy!"_

Dinner with Blaise and Draco had proved to be interesting. Not exactly Ginny's opinion of amusement or fun, but it certainly was _interesting_ to hear two Slytherins talk. The two of them had joined with the Order towards the end of the Second War, only a few weeks before the Final Battle. Seeing how horrible things were going to be, they backed out and joined the only who they knew would keep them alive. They talked about peculiar things with Ginny, mainly about Ron and Hermione. They asked about the baby, their relationship, and how Mrs. Weasley was coping. Harry barely came up in subject at all, but when he did, both of the young men knew to quickly change the subject.

As Ginny unlocked the door to her downtown London apartment, she set her coat down onto the front table (which was actually just an old crate) and went to see if she had any phone calls. After moving into the apartment, she really did have to live like a muggle. Ginny learned how to use a phone, computer, and how to deal with every day dilemmas without whipping out her wand. Her apartment was as cheap as one could buy, and the floors were made of old wood. Most of her chairs were just broken so she used any kinds of used crates she could find. The only thing that actually worked was her stove, where she set down a pot to make herself some tea. As she changed out of her black dress into a camisole and a pair of pajama pants (as she always wore around her apartment), she suddenly realized she didn't have her purse with her.

"Oh hell," she muttered, attempting to throw on pajama pants as fast as possible. She looked around her apartment in pajama pants and her black bra, attempting to throw on her camisole unsuccessfully. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. "Damn…" she added, realizing now she'd have to open the door without a shirt on. But Ginny didn't really care what other people thought about her. The other people in the building thought she was strange which kept them away, much to Ginny's happiness.

Running toward the door (which had no peephole), she opened it to find herself face to face with Draco Malfoy… and she was not wearing a shirt.

He stared at her, stupefied, before remembering why he had actually come to her apartment. "Y-you left your purse behind at the restaurant… I thought you'd w-want it back," he stuttered.

She grinned and took it from him. "D'you want to come in? I've got some water heating up for some tea?"

"Oh no," he answered, quickly. "You can get back to your—wait… There's _not_ another man in here?"

"What?" Ginny laughed. "Oh no, of course not. I don't _date_. I was just changing and then I couldn't get a shirt on and… Oh no, you thought that I was…? Oh dear," she chuckled even harder. Sitting down on an empty crate, Ginny started to laugh almost hysterically.

Draco continued to stare at her. "I think I'll get going," he murmured.

Ginny came to her senses and stopped laughing. "Oh no, I'm so sorry. Let me just get a shirt on," she added, throwing on her black camisole. "I didn't mean to scare you. I just haven't laughed since before Harry and I—well… there's no need to retell that story. I'm sure you heard."

"I was there," Draco pointed out, blushing. "I had been invited by the bloody twins, I believe, because they wanted to guarantee that something would fall on my head, or some silly prank like that."

"Mmph," Ginny grunted. She offered Draco a seat in one of her beanbag chairs on the ground, laying in front of the television that she had eventually learned to use. "Funny how the twins are twenty-five, and you'd still think that they were fourteen or something like that," she laughed.

"Well, you're twenty-two," he added, "and you still act young."

"What's that supposed to mean?" she snapped, abashed.

"I'm just trying to say that you've always seemed so youthful to me," Draco explained, waving his hand. "I'm not trying to offend you, or anything like that. I've seen what you do to Weas—er… Ron when he offends you. Personally, I wouldn't liked to be kicked there at the moment."

Ginny chuckled. "Oh, well then, sorry for my temper. I'm afraid I haven't been the same lately, if you've noticed."

"Everyone knows," he agreed. "News spreads around quickly throughout the Ministry, seeing as how I hear a lot about what Ron says. After you lost The Three Broomsticks and began to act differently, your mother stopped including you in family events. Ron and Granger only talk to you now because they either want you back or they feel badly for you, but personally, I really don't think they care much about you."

"No one really does," Ginny admitted.

"Oh no, that's not really true," Draco pointed out. "People still talk about you. Blaise likes you quite a lot—I mean—you weren't supposed to know that."

"He likes me?"

"Yeah, loads," was the answer. "I never thought I'd see the day when a Slytherin would fancy a Gryffindor, but I suppose the world is changing. He wanted to ask you out later tonight, but he felt poorly about doing it on the night of Harry's funeral."

"Don't bother with Harry," she retorted. "You _know_ he means nothing to me. It's just… I'd have refused him anyway because I just don't date. I don't like seeing men. I don't like doing things with them—romantically. I wouldn't mind going out to dinner with him, or anything like that, but I don't want him to expect me to kiss him or anything."

"So you just don't want to do _stuff_?"

"Or commit, basically. Committing to things is stupid. Why would someone waste time to say that they're going to love you forever or any kind of lies like that? Love doesn't last forever and people change, no matter what they say. There's nothing wrong with going out with someone, but people start to expect things. The man starts to think that if he's nice enough, the girl will let him sleep with her. And the girl thinks that the man's going to love her for all of eternity. It's all a load of dung, really, because no one ever does what someone expects them to, unless, of course, you're Hermione or Percy."

Draco thought this through for a moment. As much as he had never really liked Ginny Weasley before, he found what she had just said interesting. Was it really that she didn't want to date? Or did she not want another incident like the one she had with Harry? He heard her voice suddenly in the back of his head.

"Whuh?" he muttered, stupidly.

"D'you want some tea?" she asked again.

"Oh, I don't know," Draco replied. "I probably do need to get back to my apartment. I'm sure Blaise will think something has happened to me."

"You two share an apartment?"

"Yeah, across town in one of the nicer neighborhoods," he answered. "You should come over some time so I can see Blaise make a complete fool out of himself in front of you. That'd be hilarious. I'll write down the address for you. You can stop by on Tuesday evening for dinner, if you'd like to."

She was silent for a moment.

"We're really not bad cooks, actually," Draco added. "For two oblivious young lads, we manage to magic something up. I blame Hogwarts and stupid Dumbledore for not teaching us cooking spells."

"You should talk to my mum if you want help," Ginny murmured. "I'll stop by then, for dinner. It'll be nice."

"Yeah…" was the reply, as if thinking about something else. "And you can meet Alezia."

"Who?"

"My girlfriend, Alezia," Draco answered. "She's the Minister's daughter. You haven't heard about her?"

"Oh please," Ginny scoffed, "I don't know about anything in the wizarding world nowadays. I'm practically a muggle. Personally, I don't even know why you bother to talk to me."

He looked around, awkwardly. "Oh, well… it's not like I don't like you or anything like that… You're not as bad as I thought you were, back at Hogwarts. Maybe because…"

"I'm cynical and sarcastic, with a dry sense of humor?"

"Perhaps," Draco replied with a shrug, "but I'm not quite sure. There's just something about you. Something different."

"Oh, tell that to my mum, who already thinks I'm a muggle."

"You can't be that bad, can you? You know the Minister's name, of course?"

"No, can't say that I do," she snapped.

Draco stared at her. "Well… _right_, I'm sure you'll pick it up on Tuesday night. D'you need help getting to my manor?"

"_Your _manor?"

"I inherited it after my parents were both killed," he clarified. "So it's mine now. Are you going to continue to bicker with me, or may I get back to Blaise? He's probably already wet his knickers worrying about me… Or he's furious, probably thinking we're doing something."

"You and I? He should know better," Ginny laughed, and showed Draco out the door.

A/N: Hey everyone! Thanks for the reviews on the first chapter to all of those who did! I always appreciate feedback and comments! The rating has also gone up to M, but not for sex or anything like that, but mainly so I can make references to sex and swear a bit more... I just wanted to be safe. sigh Yes, it will be a Ginny/Draco romance and I will go into detail through the flashbacks about why Ginny seems to hate Harry so much, how Harry died, and details about the Final Battle. Overall, thanks for supporting me!


	3. Chapter Three

**Chapter Three**

_Ginny could barely wait to leave the dressing room. Hermione would be thrilled with her. The dress was perfect. It was long and white and the bodice of it was glittery and shimmered in the light of the small Hogsmeade store. The skirt was made of satin and it flowed down past Ginny's feet. That, of course, would be fixed with the pair of white sandal heels that they had bought the day before. Only those shoes were capable of making Ginny look taller than her typical petite size of 5'3._

_As she stepped out of the room and out into the main store, Hermione rushed over to her, making sure not to go to fast, because of her new pregnancy—5 months in. She squealed at the sight of Ginny who looked beautiful._

"_Hell, Ginny!" was all the expecting mother had to say at first._

"_What?" Ginny asked, suddenly horrified. "Is there something wrong with it? I thought it was nice!"_

"_No, it's just that you're almost glowing more than I am… and I'm the pregnant lass over here. Don't tell me you're pregnant too, Gin!" Hermione threatened, jokingly._

"_No! No! Nothing like that," she replied. "Harry and I don't do that sort of thing."_

_Hermione laughed. "Oh I know, don't worry. I trust you completely," she added with a wink. "But, Ginny, you're gorgeous. You were always so rash and brazen at school… I never really noticed how pretty you are!"_

"_Because your head was always in the books, silly!" Ginny retorted. "Besides, I've always been beautiful… runs in the family, of course. Hell, I'm prettier than Ron."_

_The other woman was silent for a moment. "I wouldn't go that far."_

_Both laughed as they purchased the dress, preparing for the wedding that was only a few days away._

"Hermione?" Ginny asked, as she walked briskly through the halls of St. Mungo's. She searched floor after floor trying to find her friend's office, only to have finally found it on the very last floor. "Hermione, can I bother you for a moment?"

Hermione sat at her desk, her hair pulled into a tight bun, wearing her usual blue robes. Her reading glasses (newly prescribed by a friend in the building) sat on the edge of her nose as she appeared to be reading a report. She looked up at the sound of Ginny's voice and shut the folder immediately.

"Ginny!" she practically shouted, surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"I have a question and you work here, so I wanted to ask you something," she replied.

"Oh," Hermione sighed, relieved, "I thought… never mind what I thought. What's the issue? What's the dilemma?"

"What does one wear when they go to someone's house for dinner?"

Hermione was cautious in her response, trying to figure out why Ginny would be going over to someone's house for dinner. "You mean a date? Or just as a welcoming sort of thing? What do you mean?"

"Draco invited me to dinner with him and Blaise and Draco's girlfriend Alezia."

"The Minister's daughter?"

"I s'pose."

"So… why would he invite you if he has a girlfriend?" Hermione inquired.

"For Blaise," Ginny replied. "Apparently Blaise likes me and he's trying to get the two of us to talk. He told me to give Blaise a chance and besides, it's nice to talk to Draco, he's not that bad of a person."

"He's scum," the expectant mother snapped. "Scum—you know that? I don't care how much you say that boy has changed, but he hasn't. He only joined the Order in the end because he knew we'd kill him if he didn't. He's got sense, but he doesn't know any better otherwise. If you're going to associate yourself with _scum_ like him, you may as well just tell your mother that you're leaving the family. She'll disown you, she will."

"She almost has already," was the almost silent reply.

"Serves you right," Hermione added. "You've been slacking off your entire life. When you were engaged to Harry, she thought he'd help you be organized and a responsible adult. But of course, everything went wrong and you became so cynical and stupid. You're so rash again, Ginny, just doing dumb things you'd never usually do. Look at yourself! You're about to go out to dinner with some old Slytherin boys who made your Hogwarts life horrid! Are you just going to let them be your friends now?"

"They _have_ changed! You just don't understand! You've always had Ron and Ron has always had you! There were never people between you!" Ginny shouted.

"Never people—!" she sputtered. "Of course there were girls between me and Ron! He always had a thing for Parvati and Lavender, but we worked through our problems! I didn't start to scream at him and leave him!"

The other woman stood silently. _I won't cry_, Ginny told herself, _it'll just say that I'm weak and stupid. I'm neither and I'm not going to let her get to me_.

"But _you_! Not even a week after your dead ex-boyfriend's funeral, you start to be interested in another boy, possibly two! Don't you think you should _grieve_ a little, like a _decent_ person!" Hermione yelled.

"Mrs. Weasley?"

Hermione turned to see another worker peek their head into her office. "Yes?" she asked, blushing greatly.

"D'you think you and your… friend could keep it down a little bit?"

"Oh certainly," Hermione agreed, apologetically. "I'm so sorry. And, Velma?"

"Yes?"

"D'you want to go out to lunch then, at noon or something?"

"Of course, lovely! I was actually coming to ask you!"

Hermione beamed as her coworker walked out of her office. Then, scowling at Ginny, went back to their conversation. "I don't want to deal with you right now, Ginny, really… I have a lot on my mind with the baby and all and I don't want you ruining my pregnancy by sending me into an early labor. Trust me, I know what stress can do to a baby and you need to leave… please, Ginny."

"Can we talk another time?" she asked, quietly. "I didn't mean to get you angry or make you have a lot of stress. I just … this isn't easy for me, Hermione, and you and Ron aren't exactly helping."

"We have lives of our own now, Gin," Hermione replied, dryly, going back to her report she was filling out. "You're an adult and you can't expect us to baby you and fix all of your problems. You know what's the good kind and bad kind when it comes to wizards. The kind you're with right now isn't exactly the good kind, especially after the Final Battle. D'you think Alezia's father is particularly happy with her for seeing a Malfoy? Of course not, and I think you'd have better common sense than her. So, please, Ginny, can you just go home?"

Ginny didn't bother to answer. She was half-way out of the door as Hermione made her request.

Later that night, Ginny threw clothes all over her apartment, looking for a suitable outfit for the night. Nothing she had would work. All of her robes were gone and replaced with muggle clothing. Surely Draco and Blaise would be dissatisfied with jeans and a sweatshirt!

Suddenly, there was a knock on her door. Lucky for Draco, Ginny happened to be fully dressed in her jeans and gray sweatshirt. When she opened the door to greet him, both seem quite excited to talk.

"I can't find anything to wear to—"

"I know I'm a bit early but I brought—"

The two paused to laugh, and Draco motioned for Ginny to go ahead and speak.

"I can't find anything to wear for tonight, because I know you and Draco are practically Galleonaires and your girlfriend will be in a dress. I'm really sorry, but I don't have anything nice but that dress I wore to the funeral—and I _rented_ that," she said very quickly.

He chuckled and lifted up his briefcase slightly. "May I walk in?" he asked, courteously.

"You don't have to ask… the bugs certainly don't."

"Right," he laughed. "Well, I assumed you wouldn't have anything to wear after some of the things you said a few nights ago and I thought I would do you a kindness… I went out and got you a dress."

He opened up the suitcase and took out a long dark green dress. He held it up to Ginny and found that it matched her height perfectly.

"Oh Draco," she breathed, looking at the dress. "No one's done anything like this for me before. Not since… not for a while… But really, you didn't have to do this for me. I feel awful, like I owe you money or some—"

"No, because really, I feel that I owe you. I was horrible to you at Hogwarts. Really, I was a smarmy little bastard and I'm so sorry. Because you aren't that bad and I just judged you because you were a Weasley. But… Granger and the older Weasley… they're another story, if you don't mind me saying so," he added, with a wink.

"Oh no," she giggled, "go on and say whatever you want about them. They hate me now… for seeing you—I mean—talking to you… looking at you… speaking to you as if you were an equal. They're so hypocritical, Hermione especially, because you used to treat her as if she was under you because of her blood. And just today she said you were worse than her, wizard-wise, because you were an ex-Death Eater. She thinks you haven't changed at all, but how would she even know?"

"My," he said, thinking, "you really did change after the fiasco with Potter."

"People change… but let's not get on about this. I'm going to go put on the dress."

Ginny walked into her bathroom, undressed, and slipped the dress on. It fit perfectly on her body, falling to the length of her knees. It had a bit of a low neck, with black lace along the edges. The sleeves were short and decorated with a bit of lace as well. Looking around her closet as Draco sat on one of her beanbag chairs, she found a pair of matching green flip-flops.

"I assume flip-flops are acceptable?" she presumed.

"Flip what?"

"These," Ginny replied, showing off her shoes.

"Oh, they're fine," Draco answered, waving his hand. "Alezia isn't going to care. She's really mellow when you think about it; she's never gotten angry at me at all. Her father's not overly happy that I'm an ex-Death Eater, but he's considering me now that he sees that our relationship is really going somewhere."

"Mmph," she responded, not particularly interested in Alezia.

"Listen to me," he laughed, "rambling on like a bumbling git. You must be bored to tears about me and my girlfriend—who you've never heard of. C'mon then, we'd better get going."

Ginny slipped on her flip-flops and left her apartment arm-in-arm with Draco.

_A/N: I know Hermione seems like such a bitch in this chapter, but I don't want you to judge her too quickly and call her OOC. First of all, Harry is her best guy friend, and it seems likely that she would side with him before Ginny. Second of all, they're all adults now. Both Ron and Hermione earn their keep and can't waste money by housing Ginny. Third, she's pregnant. She's got a lot on her mind and the worries that Ginny causes have finally caused her to explode._

_Also, there are clues to the events of the chapter in the flashback. There will always be a connection, although it may not be particularly obvious. Thanks for reviewing!_


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